Newcastle University spin-out seals deal with Indian pharma company

Partnership

Newcastle University spin-out e-Therapeutics plc has signed an agreement with Khandelwal Laboratories Pvt. Ltd, a specialist pharmaceutical company based in Mumbai, India, which will see the Indian company take on the development of e-therapeutics’ three lead compounds. The two will share revenues from marketing the products in India and e-therapeutics will retain rights to all intellectual property rights and to clinical data for western markets.

Khandelwal will now carry out the formulation and clinical development necessary to gain marketing approval for the drugs in the Indian market. The two companies will share revenues from the medicines in India 50:50 after manufacturing costs. The deal follows positive results from e-Therapeutics’ Phase II trials of oral asthma and antidepressant treatments, and the completion of preclinical studies of a topical antibiotic.

e-therapeutics claims to be the first company to attempt to commercialise systems biology research. Its technology platform enables it to find and patent new applications for marketed drugs, considerably reducing the risk profile. The company’s strategy is to find partners in Asian markets who will bear the costs of clinical development, whilst allowing e-therapeutics to retain rights in Europe and the US.

Khandelwal has an 800-strong sales team covering 160,000 doctors, and 64,000 pharmacies throughout India. The company has filed more than 200 patents, has successfully defended its patents against infringement in India, and has brought novel products through to marketing approval.

Sanjeev Khandelwal, CEO, said, “The market potential for these three drugs is currently more than £220 million per year, and all three markets are growing swiftly. The properties of these experimental medicines, if borne out in the Phase III clinical studies we will shortly be starting will [….] yield substantial market penetration.”

Malcolm Young, founding CEO of e-Therapeutics, said, “If the Phase III clinical results are as expected, the agreement should bring e-Therapeutics not only substantial revenues from Indian sales, but also high quality clinical data for our exclusive use in the seven major markets.”